Some financial information is learned through specific efforts to learn it.
But a lot more of it is learned through life experience, and we don’t often realize that we pick up much more than we think we do. Here are five examples of financial truths that you probably already knew on some level.
Opportunity Cost
You wouldn’t call the decision between going out for drinks or staying home and studying an exercise in opportunity cost, but that’s exactly what it is. The world is filled with real-life trade-offs that don’t necessarily revolve around spending money.
Instead, we learn to prioritize other resources, like time and energy, but don’t always apply the same thinking to our finances. But if we thought about saving money more like self-care after a long work week, many of us would be much better off.
Risk Assessment or Aversion
Who taught you to play it safe or not-so-safe? Maybe you saw someone lose big (failed investment, lost job, whatever) and decided, “that’s most certainly not for me.” That early exposure to risk shaped how comfortable you are with taking chances, especially with your own money.
These feelings get hard-wired much earlier than we think, but they aren’t set in stone, either. You can rewire your brain to have a more balanced take on risk rather than letting black-and-white thinking take over your decision-making.
Your Version of “Normal” Money Behavior
Growing up in an environment where money was always an issue is basically guaranteed to have you thinking money will always be an issue. Watching your parents stretch every dollar, argue about bills, or splurge on something fun are all excellent examples of moments that formed your relationship with money.
Still, much like taking risks, you don’t have to take what you’ve learned at face value. Doing so can often cause limiting beliefs, preventing you from finding the abundance of wealth that’s out there waiting for you!
Scarcity Versus Abundance
There’s no talking about abundance without scarcity. A scarcity complex isn’t something you develop out of nowhere. You feel it when you’re young, even if it’s just that moment when you’re eating lunch and run out of fruit snacks.
This might explain why you’re good at saving money, but aren’t always good at spending it when it’s necessary. Either way, it’s important to know that this “save or spend” push and pull is something we all experience, and some of us get pulled in either direction more often than the other.
Delayed Gratification
Just because most adults are bad at this doesn’t mean they don’t know how to exercise it when they really need to. This skill links up with bigger goals later, like saving for a vacation, putting money away for retirement, or just not blowing your whole paycheck on payday.
While learning about finances might remind you that this concept exists, every adult knows to do it to some extent. They also know just how good it can feel to finally be patient enough to save up for something big, even if they struggle with impulse buying.
